chimera

:lol:

round 2. tang has regal angel in the corner,... regal is recovering nicely,... tang is 4 times his size and damn fast,... he's bullying him again. but wait, the boxing gloves are off, they're eating nori together,... aw aint that cute. regal is still a shy fish, but certainly coming out to graze alot more now. tang still doesnt like him much and gives him a chase every now and then but angel is holding his own. i think the tang realises the angel is not really interested in anything but sharing a bit of his food so he's slowly getting better with it. funny as the angel is the only fish that stops and looks straight at me when i get close to the tank. he looks me right in the eye everytime. if i move suddenly, he buggers off real quick (im still bigger than him, heheheeee.... 8) )

so what did that cost him?!

count me in for zoo's too!

not disagreeing with you, it makes more sense that depth = height. however in tank terms, I've only ever heard/read them referring to depth as width... or maybe im wrong...

well keeping in line with other tank updates I did some work on my tank over the weekend too. I bought a rotary tool (aka dremel) on the weekend. i needed to drop the level of water in my refugium so had to cut down the (glass) overflow. I used a diamond saw that came with the rotary tool (a Ryobi from Bunnings) which did the job reasonably nicely. Slightly up and down on the cutting but was reasonably difficult to access considering its an angled overflow. The water level has now dropped down by about an inch so no more water running over the rim! I also had a problem with the amount of water entering the refugium from the display tank, water come at such a speed that it bubbled up and over the edges. Of course, now the water level is lower its lesser of a problem but definately still an issue. Without the glass top on the tank the water would splash up onto the lights causing salt creep everywhere! To reduce the bubbling, I added a 45 degree bend with about 10 inches of 40mm pipe going down into the refugium. Along the top edge of the pipe I used a jigsaw to cut about 20 lines in the pipe (could have also used a drill). The water now bubbles out of these holes rather than all out the end hole. Much better! Still need to tweak it even better, will post pic's when this is done. I also reduced the size of my (perspex) baffles in the sump by about 1.5" too. Did this because there was not enough room in the sump from back syphon should the return pump power off. This was a mission as the baffles were under the sumps centre brace. I found the most effective way was to use the (diamond) cutter to start the hole then use a jigsaw to finish the rest. I tested this and it appears to be alot better. After dropping the fuge water level, I gave it a good clean up too (especially scrapping off and removing the film of cyano on the back of the fuge glass!!! :evil:) then added about 2kg's of coarse sand to overtop of the finer sand. I also added some filter wool to my MDC (modular detritus catcher, TM ) to catch any algae/caleurpa before it enters the main tank. After about 3 hours, the wool was absolutely COVERED in CRAP! I cut the wool longways, chucked away the multicoloured piece and replaced with the new piece. I estimate that from the reduction of the overflow in fuge and baffles in sump, I've reduced the total water volume by approximately 20 litres. Not a major in the scheme of things of course Im also looking at using a fluidised ROWA reactor - when I find more time, I will still be sourcing/pricing up to DIY one (or two or three). If anyone knows where to get cheap pre-made cylindrical and flat perspex bits, please let me know.

i think we all agree that depth = width, not height. ie: length x depth (or width) x height. confusing isnt it?

Dave - not sure on the type of paint as mine's an in-wall, as opposed to in front of a wall However, the room that houses the display tank itself is not painted at all. All the gib was removed and replaced with plywood - a little more durable and less susceptible to salt 'spray'. Dont forget that its only a problem if the water spills onto the wall or sits in a puddle somewhere will it soak in and warp the plaster - evaporation is essentially fresh water (the itself salt doesnt 'evaporate') BUT do be careful with salt-creep. If I would do anything different, I would have left a sufficient amount of glass above the water level to allow for water movement within the tank. Add about a 10mm rise above the overflow to the top of the water line for that size tank (assuming an average l/hr return) Then I'd allow at least a further 30mm to the top of the tank. The entire front of my tank has a 2" wide flat piece of glass running right across the front. Stops any potential splashes running down the front of the tank. One other thing I would have done differently is I would have had a 5 foot hole in the wall and a 6 foot tank (6" hidden behind the wall on either side of the hole) or alternately a 6 foot hole and 7 foot tank! That way, it would give better sideways depth and also provide a place to put some streams without being overly visible in the display 'window'. Hindsight is a wonderful thing... Good luck! Keep us up-to-date with progress...

count me in for frag trades, count me out for flat worms!

I thought you said your bioload was too high as it is? I also thought you said you were struggling to get nitrates down? Nice fish,... but...????!!!!

hahaaaaa, thats the funniest thing i've heard in ages. in nzl they let you off with a smack on the wrist and a small fine - go the labour party,... not.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=607151&perpage=25&pagenumber=1

true, good point suphew

silicon = silaflex fosroc rtv (clear ONLY!)

no it's easily done. i've done it without any problems. gluing acrylic to acrylic is (apparently) much more difficult though. that depth is easily 'penetrated' to the bottom with T5's or M/H. personally i'd look at 150W's (or 250W) for that depth. likely to be the most cost effective. T5's are just powerful fluoro's. The '5' dictates the size of the tube - eg: T5's are smaller than T8's which are smaller than T12's etc. here's a good site on them: http://www.lrc.rpi.edu/programs/nlpip/lightingAnswers/lat5/abstract.asp if you go m/h (metal halide) then W (wattage) is the power of the bulb while the K (kelvin) is the colour temperature of the bulb. typically the lower the K rating the more yellow, the higher the K the more white/blue. Go minimum of 10K on reef tank. it seems most settle on 12K or 14K these days.

hahaaaa, funny coz it's (probably) true :lol:

Check he doesn't have these symptoms... Ich - Symptoms Ich appears as small, white, raised spots, similar to grains of salt, on the skin of your fish. These spots are actually the adult stage of the parasite known as the trophont, which is enveloped in the pus and tissue of the skin and slime layer. In addition, infected fish display one or more of the following symptoms: Increased mucus or slime on the body or gills Darkened appearance Hiding in an unusual or atypical location Flashing (rubbing their bodies against a surface) Rapid swimming and breathing or gasping at the surface Slow movement (as the disease progresses) Diminished appetite

$30/hr? Hahaaa, that would almost be an insult! :lol:

go the closed loop, specifically good for circulation under rock work

looking sharp bro! nice plumbing job too. what happens if you want to unplug the closed loop pump? you have no ball valves near the top?

does that come with live rock?

i think best to post here on saltwater. we cant get imported LR (live rock) your best bet is to buy dead rock from your LFS (local fish store) and then buy some LR from someone who is breaking down your tank. the LR will then 'seed' the LFS rock by populating it with the good bacteria. it will take sometime for your new tank to cycle - patience is required! you dont mention where you are from, if in auckland contact jetskisteve for live rock. going rate is typically around $10/kg.

??? you mean NSW? or is that fresh seawater dont be put off by a sump. i wouldnt be without one.

ignore what hff said about drilling your tank. of course it is a risk, but one that is very minimal if done properly. your best bet is eheim or iwaki. both are very good for closed loops and well priced. i use a dolphin ampmaster world version (hooked up to an oceans motions) in a similar sized tank as yours for my closed loop. it does 13,500lph. eheim or iwaki wont do this but you can do what pies did and have multiple eheims, one for each spray bar. price wise this would work out cheaper. go eheim 1260's or 1262's. anything less for that size is not worth while doing.

:lol: